Impact of Agro Technology on Socio-economic Condition of the Farming Groups at Jagannathpur

Abstract

Agriculture is being highly technologized today; to sustain production and gain higher yields, farmers have to be updated regarding available technologies. As the land area is decreasing, there’s always a challenge to increase production and earn profit. Therefore, technological innovations also change farmers’ socio-economic conditions. Considering this, an interview on three categories (landless, marginal, small) of 15 farmers was conducted at the Jagannathpur union of Kumarkhali upazilla under the Kushtia district to investigate the socio-economic status, problems in crop production, potentials, limitations of rural development and adoption extent of modern agricultural technologies. Outcomes expressed that, a major source of annual income (1,20,800 Tk) of landless farmers were from non-agricultural works; contrary, marginal (2,89,000 Tk) and small (3,89,200 Tk) farmers’ prime source of income was from agricultural origins. It was a positive sign that all categories of farm families spent a good sum of money for educating children immediately after food expenditure. All the farmers had drinking water, electricity and hygienic toilet facilities at their dwelling house. The problem confrontation index (PCI) of rural development was highest in lack of capital (36). Physical and social PCI was identified as limited natural resources (32) and reduction of croplands (28), respectively. Concerning technology adoption, 14% used biofertilizer, 12% followed a modern model of vegetable production, 12% collected quality seeds, 10% exercised mulching, 10% used perching and 10% imitated seed preservation techniques. Top PCI for crop production was high input cost (36) followed by lack of technical knowledge (34). Most of the respondents agreed that agricultural production directly contributes to food security (34), increased nutrition (32) and financial safety (30).